Volume I Part 16 (1/2)

[189] [See p. 130.]

[190] [_Ibid._]

[191] [In Hebrew the two names are not clearly distinguishable. The former town, in Polish, _Szydlowiec_, is near Radom. The latter, in Polish, _Siedlce_, is the capital of the present Russian Government of the same name, not far from Warsaw.]

[192] [The Turkish Sabbatians, from whom this Spanish t.i.tle was borrowed, spoke the Judeo-Spanish dialect. On the abbreviation S. S., see Gratz, _Geschichte der Juden_, x^3, 379, n. 1.]

[193] [In Polish, _Lanckorona_, a town in Podolia.]

[194] [Literally, ”the Lady,” a Cabalistic term for the Divine Presence.]

[195] [In Podolia.]

[196] [See p. 134, n. 4.]

[197] _Tar`a de-Romem_, the legendary dwelling-place of the Messiah.

[Comp. Sanhedrin 98a.]

[198] [Literally, ”Master of the Name,” a man able to perform miracles through the Name of G.o.d.]

[199] An exposition of his doctrines may be found in the book ent.i.tled _Maggid Debarav le-Ya`kob_ [”Showing His Words unto Jacob”--allusion to Ps. cxlvii. 19], also called _Likkute Amarim_, ”Collection of Sayings.”

It was published after his death, in 1784.

[200] [”History of Jacob Joseph”--a clever allusion to the Hebrew text of Gen. x.x.xvii. 2.]

[201] _Hayye, bane, u-mezone_ [allusion to a well-known Talmudic dictum; Mo`ed Katan 28^a].

[202] [His full name was Shneor Zalman, which is used by the author later on. Subsequently he a.s.sumed the family name Shneorsohn.]

[203] In Hebrew, _Hokma_, _Bina_, _Da`ath_, abbreviated to HaBaD, from which the White Russian Hasidim received the nickname ”Habadniks.”

[204] ????? [_Hagro_, abbreviation of _Ha-G_aon _R_abbi _E_(?=o)lia].

[205] The custom of wearing white garments was adopted, for certain mystical considerations, by the Tzaddiks and the most pious of their followers.

[206] See p. 230.

[207] See pp. 377 _et seq._

CHAPTER VII

THE RUSSIAN QUARANTINE AGAINST JEWS (TILL 1772)

1. THE ANTI-JEWISH ATt.i.tUDE OF MUSCOVY DURING THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

The Empire of Muscovy, shut off from Western Europe by a Chinese--or, more correctly, Byzantine--wall, maintained during the sixteenth century its att.i.tude of utmost prejudice towards the Jews, and refused to admit them into its borders. This prejudice was part of the general disfavor with which the Russian people of that period, imbued as it was with the traditions of Tataric-Byzantine culture, looked upon foreigners or ”infidels.” But the prejudice against the Jews was fed, in addition, from a specific source. The recollection of the ”Judaizing heresy” which had struck terror to the hearts of the pious Muscovites at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century[208] had not yet died out. The Jews were regarded as dangerous magicians and seducers, superst.i.tious rumors ascribing all possible crimes to them.

The amba.s.sador of the Muscovite Grand Duke, Basil III., at Rome, observed in 1526 to the Italian scholar Paolo Giovio: ”The Muscovite people dread no one more than the Jews, and do not admit them into their borders.”